For the first time in history, the 2021 U.S. Paralympic team includes more women (121) than men (113). This is especially notable given that the Paralympics are far less gender balanced than the Olympics. In Tokyo, women account for about 42 percent of all Paralympians, though this is a still an increase from previous Games.
Team USA – Women’s Medal Count
Throughout the Paralympic Games, On Her Turf tracked the success of the women of Team USA, tallying every medal they earned.
In Tokyo, the 2021 U.S. Paralympic team won 104 total medals, including 37 gold.
Of those medals, 64 total (and 23 gold) have been won by women, either in women’s events (58 total, 20 gold) or in open/mixed gender events (6 total, 3 gold).
In other words: women won 61.5 percent of total U.S. medals and 62 percent of U.S. gold medals.
(Methodology note: The U.S. wheelchair rugby team’s silver is not included in this “women’s medal count.” While wheelchair rugby is a mixed gender sport, the U.S. team in Tokyo did not include any women. However, medals like the U.S. track team’s gold in the mixed gender 4x100m universal relay are included as women were members of that medal-winning team.)
RELATED: United States medal tracker for Tokyo Paralympics
Cycling
Track Cycling – Women’s 3000m Individual Pursuit – C4 (video highlight here)
- Silver: Shawn Morelli
- Morelli, a U.S. Army veteran, claimed the U.S. team’s first medal of the Tokyo Paralympics. Read more about Morelli’s accomplishment here.
Road Cycling – Women’s Time Trial – C4
- Gold: Shawn Morelli
Road Cycling – Women’s Time Trial – H4-5
- Gold: Oksana Masters (Read more about Masters’ Paralympic journey here)
Road Cycling – Women’s Road Race – H1-4
- Bronze: Alicia Dana
Road Cycling – Women’s Road Race – H5 (video highlight here)
- Gold: Oksana Masters
RELATED: Oksana Masters is one of the world’s greatest athletes, but she isn’t fearless
Road Cycling – Women’s Road Race – T1-2
- Bronze: Jill Walsh
Road Cycling – Mixed Gender H1-5 Team Relay
- Bronze: United States (Alicia Dana, Alfredo de los Santos, Ryan Pinney)
Equestrian
Individual Championship Test – Grade I
- Gold: Roxanne Trunnell on Dolton
- This result by Trunnell and horse Dolton marked the United States’ first gold medal in equestrian at the Olympics or Paralympics since the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Individual Freestyle Test – Grade I (video highlight here)
- Gold: Roxanne Trunnell on Dolton
Team Test to Music
- Bronze: U.S. Team (Roxanne Trunnell, Rebecca Hart, Kate Shoemaker)
Goalball
Following a thrilling semifinal shootout victory against Brazil, the U.S. women’s goalball team played for gold. The U.S. went on to claim silver, falling to Turkey 9-2 in the gold medal game.
The U.S. women’s goalball team included Amanda Dennis, Asya Miller, Eliana Mason, Lisa Czechowski, Marybai Huking, and Mindy Cook. Both Miller and Czechowski competed at their sixth Paralympics in Tokyo.
Read more about the U.S. women’s goalball team here.
Rowing
Mixed Coxed Four – PR3 (video highlight here)
- Silver: U.S. Team (Danielle Hansen, Karen Petrik, Allie Reilly, Charley Nordin, John Tanguay)
Sitting Volleyball
The U.S. women’s sitting volleyball team won gold, defeating China 3-1 in the final. The U.S. has now claimed a medal at every Paralympics since women’s sitting volleyball debuted: bronze in 2004, silver in 2008 and 2012, and gold in 2016 and 2020.
The U.S. women’s sitting volleyball team at the Tokyo Paralympics:
- Lora Webster (MB, Point Lookout, New York)
- Bethany Zummo (L, Dublin, California)
- Lexi Shifflett (S/L, Waseca, Minnesota)
- Katie Holloway (OH, Lake Stevens, Washington)
- Heather Erickson (OPP, Fayetteville, North Carolina)
- Monique Matthews (MB/OH, Ardmore, Oklahoma)
- Whitney Dosty (OH/OPP, Tucson, Arizona)
- Jillian Williams (MB/OPP/OH, Odem, Texas)
- Emma Schieck (OH, Statesville, North Carolina)
- Nichole Millage (OPP, Champaign, Illinois)
- Kaleo Kanahele Maclay (S, Edmond, Oklahoma)
- Annie Flood (S/OPP, Salem, Oregon)
The team was led by head coach Bill Hamiter and assistant coach Michelle Goodall.
READ MORE: US women win second straight gold in sitting volleyball
Swimming
Women’s 50m Butterfly – S6
- Bronze: Elizabeth Marks
Women’s 50m Butterfly – S7
- Silver: Mallory Weggemann
Women’s 50m Freestyle – S6 (highlight here)
- Silver: Elizabeth Marks
Women’s 100m Backstroke – S6
- Gold: Elizabeth Marks
Women’s 100m Backstroke – S7 (video highlight here)
- Gold: Mallory Weggemann
- Bronze: Julia Gaffney
Women’s 100m Backstroke – S8
- Bronze: Jessica Long
Women’s 100m Backstroke – S9 (video highlight here)
- Gold: Hannah Aspden
Women’s 100m Backstroke – S13 (video highlight here)
- Gold: Gia Pergolini
- In the final of this race, Pergolini lowered her own world record, touching the wall in 1:04.64. Pergolini’s result came just one hour after her friend and roommate, Anastasia Pagonis, claimed gold in the 400m S11. Read more about Pergolini and Pagonis’s friendship here.
Women’s 100m Breaststroke – SB6 (highlight here)
- Bronze: Sophia Herzog
Women’s 100m Breaststroke – SB7
- Silver: Jessica Long
Women’s 100m Breaststroke – SB13
- Silver: Colleen Young
Women’s 100m Freestyle – S3
- Silver: Leanne Smith
Women’s 100m Freestyle – S7
- Silver: McKenzie Coan
Women’s 100m Butterfly – S8
- Gold: Jessica Long
RELATED: Swimmer Jessica Long departs fifth Paralympics with 29 career medals
Women’s 100m Butterfly – S9
- Silver: Elizabeth Smith
Women’s 100m Butterfly – S10
- Gold: Mikaela Jenkins
Women’s 200m Individual Medley – SM7 (video highlight here)
- Gold: Mallory Weggemann
- Silver: Ahalya Lettenberger
Women’s 200m Individual Medley – SM8 (video highlight here)
- Gold: Jessica Long
- Long claimed her fourth straight gold medal in this event, a streak that started at the 2008 Beijing Games. Read more here.
Women’s 200m Individual Medley – SM11
- Bronze: Anastasia Pagonis
Women’s 200m Individual Medley – SM13
- Silver: Colleen Young
Women’s 400m Freestyle – S7 (video highlight here)
- Gold: McKenzie Coan
- Bronze: Julia Gaffney
Women’s 400m Freestyle – S8
- Gold: Morgan Stickney
- Silver: Jessica Long
Women’s 400m Freestyle – S11 (video highlight here)
- Gold: Anastasia Pagonis
- Pagonis, 17, touched the wall 4:54.49 to break her own world record, which she set earlier this summer at U.S. Paralympic Swimming Trials. Her victory marked the U.S. team’s first gold medal of the Tokyo Paralympics. Read more here.
Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay (34 points)
- Gold: United States (Hannah Aspden, Mikaela Jenkins, Jessica Long, and Morgan Stickney)
- Read more about the U.S. team’s victory and watch a highlight of Stickney’s thrilling anchor leg performance here.
Track & Field
Women’s 100m – T13
- Bronze: Kym Crosby
Women’s 100m – T37
- Silver: Jaleen Roberts (read more here)
Women’s 100m – T47
- Silver: Brittni Mason
- Bronze: Deja Young
Women’s 100m – T54
- Bronze: Cheri Madsen (Read more about Madsen, who made her Paralympic debut in 1996, here)
Women’s 200m – T47
- Silver: Brittni Mason
Women’s 400m – T13
- Bronze: Kym Crosby
Women’s 400m – T20
- Gold: Breanna Clark
Women’s 400m – T54
- Silver: Cheri Madsen
Women’s 800m – T34
- Bronze: Alexa Halko
Women’s 800m – T54 (video highlight here)
- Silver: Tatyana McFadden
- Bronze: Susannah Scaroni
Women’s 1500m – T13
- Silver: Liza Corso
Women’s 5000m – T54 (video highlight here)
- Gold: Susannah Scaroni
- Bronze: Tatyana McFadden
- After the victory, Scaroni credited McFadden, her teammate and training partner, with helping her win. “Tatyana didn’t make a chase, which meant they didn’t catch up over those seven laps,” Scaroni said. “I feel like we both won, honestly.” Read more here.
Mixed Gender 4x100m Universal Relay
- Gold: United States (Noah Malone, Brittni Mason, Nick Mayhugh, Tatyana McFadden)
- Read more about the Paralympic debut of this event here.
Women’s Long Jump – T37
- Silver: Jaleen Roberts
Women’s Club Throw – F51
- Silver: Cassie Mitchell
Triathlon
Women’s Triathlon – PTS2 (video highlight here)
- Gold: Allysa Seely
- Silver: Hailey Danz
Women’s Triathlon – PTS5 (video highlight here)
- Silver: Grace Norman
Women’s Triathlon – PTWC (video highlight here)
- Gold: Kendall Gretsch
- In a thrilling finish, Gretsch chased down Australian Lauren Parker to claim gold by one second. Gretsch, who also owns two gold medals in Nordic skiing from the 2018 PyeongChang Paralympics, became the fifth American – and third American woman – to win gold at both the summer and winter Paralympic Games. Read more here.
Wheelchair Basketball
The U.S. women’s wheelchair basketball team claimed bronze, defeating Germany 64-51. The Netherlands won gold – the country’s first ever gold medal in the event – while China claimed silver.
2021 U.S. Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team:
| Number | Name | Sport Class | Paralympic Experience |
| 1 | Alejandra (Ali) Ibanez | 2.5 | Paralympic debut |
| 3 | Abigail (Abby) Bauleke | 1.5 | Paralympic debut |
| 4 | Zoe Voris | 3.5 | Paralympic debut |
| 5 | Darlene Hunter | 1.0 | Third Paralympics |
| 7 | Josie Aslakson | 1.0 | Paralympic debut |
| 8 | Natalie Schneider (C) | 4.5 | Fourth Paralympics |
| 15 | Rose Hollermann | 3.5 | Third Paralympics |
| 21 | Kaitlyn Eaton | 1.5 | Paralympic debut |
| 24 | Lindsey Zurbrugg | 2.5 | Paralympic debut |
| 43 | Bailey Moody | 4.0 | Paralympic debut |
| 54 | Ixhelt Gonzalez | 4.5 | Paralympic debut |
| 55 | Courtney Ryan | 2.0 | Paralympic debut |
Wheelchair Rugby
While wheelchair rugby is a mixed gender sport, the U.S. team – which claimed silver – did not include any women.
That said, wheelchair rugby did see several notable firsts for women at the Tokyo Paralympics:
- Great Britain’s Kylie Grimes became the first woman to claim gold in wheelchair rugby. To put that in perspective: since the sport debuted at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, 57 athletes have won gold: 56 men and one woman (Grimes). Read more about this historic first here.
- The Tokyo Paralympics broke the record for women’s participation in wheelchair rugby at a single Games thanks to the four women who competed: Kylie Grimes (GBR), Kurahashi Kae (JPN), Shae Graham (AUS), Sofie Sejer Skoubo (DEN).
Follow Alex Azzi on Twitter @AlexAzziNBC
How to watch the Tokyo Paralympics
NBC will provide over 1,200 hours of Paralympic coverage. Here are some highlights:
